Backwards Compatibility Heading to PS4; PS1/PS2 Games Inbound – Rumor

A reliable anonymous source who is currently working on Sony’s streaming service, PlayStation Now, has revealed that backwards compatibility is coming to the PlayStation 4.

Digital Foundry reports that the announcement of PlayStation Now is only the tip of the iceberg. PlayStation 3 titles are going to be rampaging on the next-gen console and will utilize the “gameplay over IP” cloud service. On the other hand PlayStation One and PlayStation 2 games are going to be running locally through emulation on the PS4. However, the source did say that Sony will pick the most popular titles of the lot and bring forth HD versions as well.

Not only that, Sony is also said to be working on native HD resolutions for older titles to run on the newer hardware without the blurry images as seen when the games were up scaled on the previous PS3.

Sony running emulation locally is an interesting choice. While the company has the option of PlayStation Now, running code locally “provides a superior experience in terms of both input latency and image quality, and owing to the bandwidth requirements of continuous gameplay streaming, a single download could actually work out better economically for the platform holder.”

Digital Foundry pointed out that the PS3’s firmware contains emulators for PS1 and PS2; while the Vita can similarly run PS1 titles using the same technology.

Sony has the code set up, it has the resources, the motivation and this announcement could probably bomb everyone at E3 this year.